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"What I wanted was not votes, but democracy"

"I HAVE myself, for instance, been sternly rebuked of late for saying that what I wanted was not votes, but democracy. People spoke as if this were some sort of awful apostasy from the Liberal Position; whereas, it is a humble remark of exactly the same sort as saying that I want, not the Brighton express, but Brighton; not the Calais boat, but Calais; not a Polar Expedition, but the North Pole. The test of a democracy is not whether the people vote, but whether the people rule. . . . Votes may be the most convenient way of achieving this effect; but votes are quite useless if they do not achieve it. And sometimes they do not."~G.K. Chesterton: Illustrated London News. (Oct. 2, 1909)